


Sir Can

by CrazyBatLady



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-25
Updated: 2013-02-25
Packaged: 2017-12-03 14:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/699412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyBatLady/pseuds/CrazyBatLady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Jon keeps hearing about a strange person, wondering if they have anything to do with his bestest friend's current situation</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sir Can

The Jon waved his feet around in the tall chair, looking at all the different posters in the waiting room. Sam was sitting next to him, flicking through a magazine although he wasn’t taking anything in. Today was that day of the week when they went to visit Michael. The Jon had been confused when Michael had had to move here from the manor. There had been a lot of closed doors and hushed tones and continued talk about some sort of gentlemanly can, and The Jon had found it all very confusing. That was a few months ago by now. At this point, The Jon just assumed that Michael needed a rest from all the band practise and fixing them up, and enjoyed his weekly visits as part of a routine.

A nice looking lady in a white dress and cap appeared in the doorway, holding a clipboard and looking very clean and official.

“You may see Mr. Reed now.” she addressed The Jon and Sam, smiling as she did. Jon smiled back as he hoped up from his seat and followed the nurse down the clean corridor, Sam trailing behind him. They stopped before a door with a number and several names on it, one of them Michael’s. The woman opened the door to reveal a long white room with beds on either side. Some of the beds had people in them, sleeping or reading or staring into space. In one of the beds was their beloved band member and The Jon’s bestest buddy in the world.

“Michael!” Jon yelled, running over and embracing Michael in a full-on hug.

“Woah, good to see you, buddy!” Michael responded after a moment, returning Jon’s gesture. They remained like that for a couple of minutes before Sam intervened, having to pry Jon away. The two sat down in simple plastic chairs beside the bed after Sam had propped up Michael with a few extra pillows.

“So, how’s everything at the manor?” Michael enquired, a smile on his somewhat tired face.

“Everything’s great! We’ve been writing loads of songs, and the Spine’s been extra nice recently and doing fun things with me and Rabbit, and I went to see Pappy yesterday and there were so many birds around!”

“That sounds great.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t have nearly enough hats for all of them.”

“I’m sure they didn’t mind.”

They continued on like this, meaningless talk about various things. The Jon talked more about goings-on at shows and the manor, and Michael recounted stories about the people in the other beds and the nurses and the funny old doctors. They were there for a while before something clicked in Jon’s head.

“Oh! I almost forgot. I brought this along for you!”

The Jon reached inside his shirt and withdrew a very familiar piece of clothing.

“My tanktop! Thanks a lot, I’ve been missing that.” Michael smiled a wide smile as he accepted the purple top he treasured so.

“I thought you’d prefer wearing it to that green nightie you’re wearing.”

“Yeah…I definitely do. Thanks.”

The two embraced each other again, except this time it was the woman in white who broke them up, saying that visiting hours were over. The Jon waved to Michael as he and Sam followed the woman towards the corridor. Michael waved back, but The Jon could have sworn there was something sad in his friend’s expression.  
—-

“Michael.”

“Yeah, Jon?”

“How come you’ve been here so long?”

Michael smiled weakly. It was true: he had been here a good few months by now. Him and Jon were sitting together in the ward.

“I’m just a bit off-kilter, that’s all. Don’t you worry. I’ll be back in no time.”

“But you said that two weeks ago! It’s getting boring around the manor, with Spine and Rabbit and everyone else going off all the time. I’ve had no one to play with.”

“I’m sure they’ve just got things to worry about. Hey, did you bring…?”

“Umm…y-yeah, I did!” The Jon beamed as he pulled out of his shirt a drawing he had done.

“Brilliant. Who’s that in the picture?”

“It’s us two! See, that’s me in the hat and you in the tank-top fighting the zombie bears! Except I think they look more like dogs or something…”

“They look fine.” Michael reassured him. He put the picture on the table next to his bed, along with all of Jon’s other drawings as well as cards from various well-wishers.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, The Jon looking out the window at the birds outside and Michael staring into space. Although no one had told him anything, Jon had noticed some weird things about Michael. He was a different colour than normal and sometimes drifted off in his sentences. Jon knew something was Off.

“Michael, do you know about Sir Can?”

“What?”

“Sir Can. Everyone keeps mentioned this guy like he’s a big deal. Do you know who he is?”

The question stirred something in Michael. He didn’t answer, but confirmed Jon’s suspicions that something was definitely Off. More silence followed.

“Jon, can you promise something for me?”

It was an odd thing coming from Michael, The Jon thought, but seeing as something was Off, he guessed that was to be expected.

“Sure, buddy.”

“Promise me…you’ll go on. Even if I’m not around. Even if everyone isn’t around for some reason. You deserve a lot, and I hope I’ve given you enough.”

The Jon was confused for a moment.

“Enough what? Upgrades? Sandwiches? What do you mean, Michael?”

But he had already fallen asleep. He looked so peaceful. Jon smiled and laid his head down on Michael’s chest. Maybe he could be home tomorrow, Jon thought. He could make Michael the right colour again.  
—-

It was that day of the week again. Excited, Jon bounded down the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast. He had a new drawing for Michael and a whole bunch of stories. He was somewhat surprised when he turned the corner and saw that everyone was in the kitchen. The residents of Walter Manor would often get up at different times for various reasons, so there were rarely more than two or three people in there. However, here everyone was: the Walters, the Beciles, Steve, Sam and Rabbit and the Spine. Some were sat at the table, hands simply folded in front of them or holding their heads. Wanda was crying quietly, and Norman had put his arm around her shoulder. The Spine and Rabbit were both leaning against the kitchen counter, The Spine staring into a mug of coffee and Rabbit just looking ahead with his arms folded.

“Good morning, everyone!”

The people in the kitchen had barely noticed The Jon appear, and were startled by his chipper demeanour. They looked around at each other in an uncomfortable way. Finally, it fell to Spine to tell him. He sighed, a puff of steam escaping from his mouth as he made his way over to Jon. He put a silver hand on the brass robot’s shoulder.

“Jon, there’s…something you need to know.”

“Can you tell me on the way to see Michael? We’re already running a bit late, I think.”

Everyone looked down and shifted in their seats.

“Jon, we’re not going to see Michael today.”

The Jon stepped backwards, letting Spine’s hand fall to his side.

“W-What do you mean? We always see Michael this time every week. Every week until he came home. That’s what you said. That’s what everyone said!”

“He’s not coming home, Jon.”

Something about those words made something drop in what would have been The Jon’s stomach.

“W-Why not?”

No one had the guts to tell him. They had thought he would understand by now, even if they had kept some of the facts from him. It had been eight months. It would have been long enough for anyone to guess it. Not long enough for Jon, apparently. He backed away from the doorway, staring at everyone with oil trailing down his face plates.

“Why isn’t anyone saying anything?! I just want to know where Mike is! Just tell me something for once!” he screamed at the top of his voice box. Another moment of silence sent him running off back upstairs to his stasis chamber, away from these people who thought he wasn’t smart enough to understand what was happening to his best friend and lied to him and kept secrets from him.

It wasn’t fair.

—-

Rabbit decided to leave it an hour or so before he went up to Jon’s stasis chamber. Jon wasn’t even inside: he was hunched up in front of the door, his frame shaking violently through his sobbing. Rabbit went over and sat down beside him.

“How you doing, buddy?”

No response. Only sobs. Rabbit sighed and put his hand on Jon’s shoulder.

“You r-remember when Pappy went away? How he hasn’t been back for a while?”

The Jon nodded, not lifting his head.

“Weeeell, Michael had to go in a s-similar way. It wasn’t that he wanted to go. There were th-things he needed to do elsewhere. You understand?”

Rabbit wasn’t even sure if Jon was listening to him. They sat for about two minutes before Jon grabbed at Rabbit, pushing his face into his elder brother’s chest. He didn’t say anything. That was fine.

It would all be fine. They just had to give it time and patience.


End file.
